"politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. thanks, chris, and thanks to you for tuning in. hurricane sandy is a powerful, historic storm, now barrelling towards landfall on the south jersey coast. the storm now has top winds of 90 miles per hour. bringing dangerous rain and flooding along the east coast. right now, new york city, a construction crane has partially collapsed on top of a high rise building. it is dangling 80 stories above the mid-town streets. we'll go live to the scene where the streets have been cleared and nearby building have been evacuated. at this hour, the storm is threatening 50 million people from washington, d.c., to martha's vineyard in

massachusetts. subways and trains are shut down in many, many cities, including new york and boston. airlines canceled more than 7,000 domestic and international flights today and tomorrow, stranding 15 million people. both candidates suspended their campaign events. we've got it covered from all angles with reporters in key locations and our meteorologist in the studio. first, let's go live to that dangerous, damaged crane in midtown manhattan. it's dangling over the streets of midtown manhattan. nbc's rheama ellis is live. >> reporter: authorities are trying to get them up in the

construction site to see if there is anything that they can do to fix the crane that is dangling over 57th street. police at this time have blocked off the area nool what they have created they call a collapse zone. no pedestrians, no cars. they evacuated the apartment buildings, the commercial buildings, even the park meridian hotel has been evacuated and the hotel guests have been moved to other hotels. authorities are very concerned that if this partially collapsed crane starts to swing because of these gusting winds, it could go flying into another building and no one knows what that would create before it comes crashing down to the ground. whether or not they can secure it under these conditions is absolutely unclear. they may have to wait for the storm to pass before they can do anything. reverend? >> wouldn't it seem with

80-mile-an-hour winds very, very difficult, at best, to try to do anything when the inspectors go up? >> it absolutely would because authorities say the call came in about this collapse at about 2:30 in the afternoon eastern time. according to the national weather service, the wind at that time was blowing at about 20 miles an hour with gusts up to 40 miles an hour. we're now talking about authorities say winds gusting upwards of 80 miles an hour before this storm is over. >> wow. >> who would go up over 80 stories high with a crane in this position, i'm not quite sure. and then what could they do? no one is clear about it. but they are going to try and see if there's anything they can do to secure this crane that is dangerously perched so high up above a major street in manhattan. >> you know, i'm aware of the location as a new yorker and i'm looking at you and it appears that the winds are pushing you back so it appears that the

winds are strengthening as we speak. >> i would say so. when we came out a couple of hours ago, the winds were nowhere as intense as they are right now. they have been steadily increasing in the intensity. again, as i say, i think it would be very dangerous those visiting here on their anniversary. they were on 57th street when this portion of the crane came crumbling down. the man said it sounded like a steel door, a giant steel door slamming shut. he and his wife looked and only ten yards away there were huge pieces of steel. at that point all they could think to do was to rush back to their hotel. they didn't know what had happened until they turned on their television and realized they had just narrowly missed being in the middle of a very dangerous situation. >> rehema, thank you so much. please stay safe. >> reporter: absolutely. >> now let's go to nbc's ann

thompson live at battery park in lower manhattan right on the water. good evening and tell us what is the latest down there. >> good evening, reverend sharpton. well, let me tell you, we've got one of the bands of sandy coming through. the wind has picked up, the rain has picked up. new york harbor, which is behind me, it is beginning to lap the promenade. we're at a high point in the promenade here at battery park city. down where tl is lower, the water is already coming up on to the promenade. they are concerned about storm surge. that is what everybody is going to be watching for the next 4, 4 1/2 hours. new york city officials think that the storm surge will hit here in new york harbor sometime between 8:00 and 9:00. high tide is scheduled for 8:506789 so wh8:50. when you combine the fact that it's a full moon which means high tides anyway, plus this

outrageously huge hurricane that is coming our way, all of that spells trouble. and that is why there is a mandatory evacuation in this area here at battery park and much of the financial district. people were told to leave their homes by yesterday afternoon. there are a lot of people down here. some said, it's not so bad. i'll come out and take pictures. police are using bull horns to remind people that this is a mandatory evacuation area and it's not safe to be here even to take pictures either for your vacation or just for pros tear tea. as far as the city goes, city schools are closed tomorrow. amtrack service is canceled for tomorrow. the new york stock exchange will also be closed tomorrow and that is all because of this storm. city officials are urging people to stay indoors, don't go out if you don't have to. many bridges around the city are going to be closed. the lincoln tunnel will remain

open. the bridge will remain open. you'll be able to get in and out of manhattan but a lot of bridges are closing because they are expecting high wind gusts. i know this afternoon at kennedy airport there were wind gusts up to 62 miles per hour. reverend sharpton? >> now, is power outages is threat here? are we seeing the possibility of power outages? >> well, that's always every new yorker's worst fear, is the fear that power will go out, especially for anybody who happens to live in a high-rise because hiking that is a threat. con ed is aware of the power outages. mayor bloomberg has said if power went out, they thought we could get it back fairly quickly.

that's why he urged people to go upstate or to go outside of the city and try to find someone else in the city to stay with it because the city was best equipped to handle the situation. >> ann, thank you very much and be careful out there. >> will do. >> atlantic city, new jersey, is bracing for a direct hit from hurricane sandy. let's go live to atlantic city's mayor, lorenzo langford live on the telephone. how are you? >> reverend, how are you? >> i'm fine and how is your city? >> well, i'm sure you're probably doing a lot better than i am and where you are you're probably fairing better than we are. our city is bracing for some devastation. it is low tide here as we speak. it's still above anywhere between a foot and a half to three feet of water which has blanketed most of the city.

we expect when the high rise levels again, the level of water in the streets will rise and we're expecting anywhere from 3 to 5 feet of water in the street. it's pretty precarious. >> three to five feet of water you're expecting in the streets? >> that's correct. >> now, what has been -- has there been evacuations? have they been -- things put in place in case of power outages? what is happening? >> yes. starting friday on a number of occasions we sent out the call to have our residents evacuate the city and it's a barrier island. the last time that the ocean met the bay was back in 1962. so starting friday, repeatedly

we have said that the cities should take this very seriously and heed the call and evacuate the city. unfortunately, we haven't had as many do that as we would have liked. the last time that we had an event, hurricane irene, we did achieve a 98% evacuation rate. i think that we're going to fall short of that this time. but, yes, to answer your question, we keep and have been employing all of the residents who were able to flee the city and seek higher ground in a safe shelter somewhere else. >> thank you for your time and please be careful for your citizens as well. they should all heed your warnings and your advice. thank you for coming on. >> you're welcome, reverend al. stay blessed. >> you as well. now let's bring in nbc's meteorologist dylan drier.

dylan, where is the eye of the storm right now? >> well, the eye of the storm is actually moving on shore in the atlantic city, northern delaware city and we still have this storm as a strong storm with a very low central pressure. we have been talking about this storm as far as as it being historic event. and with the millibar levels now at 940, that is the lowest central pressure for a hurricane we have ever seen in this region especially. so we are looking at a very intense storm. it means it is a very strong, intense storm, and we're obviously seeing the effects of that. the problem is, in a normal situation you would track the eye of the storm, it would make its way onshore and you would look right where the eye is because that's where you're going to see the strongest winds. we are in a different situation because the hurricane force winds extend 100 miles at least out from the center of this

storm and the tropical storm force winds extend hundreds of miles out from the center of the storm. it's turning into this hybrid now. once a category one hurricane, the wind extends so far out from the center of this storm. ironly it's going to slow down. it really picked up speed as it moved on shore. now as it sits over pennsylvania and new york state it's going to slowly weaken and rain itself out but it's going to take days for the winds to ease. now, we do have the rain extending all the way into areas like western maryland and we're even getting snowfall in areas through west virginia and we've already picked up more than ten inches of snow in some areas. that's why we're talking about this hybrid kind of situation, between a hurricane developing

into a nor'easter. the heavy rain will continue to move on shore. the rain is lightening up. we're actually going to see that as acting like the eye of the storm where the rain does let up a little bit and then on the backside we'll see more rain start to move in. so rainfall estimates will be anywhere from around 6 to 8 inches with some areas picking up 10 to 12 inches of rainfall. so even though this has been taughted as a coastal situation right now, we are going to see inland flooding become more and more of an issue as the rivers and the streams start to overflow their banks. so taking a tour of winds, we've been dealing with extreme wind gusts, not just in the region, where the storm is making its way on shore near atlantic city, all the way into southern new england where winds have been gusting up around 60, 70 miles per hour. >> what is the current wind now? >> the current wind right now in new york city is 67 miles per hour. that's the gusts we're seeing

right now. >> what are the dangers tonight? what are the things that we should be most watchful for? >> the things that we have to worry about is the high tide that is going to move on later on tonight. even though the storm is making its way on shore, we're actually looking for that high tide between anywhere from 8 to 9:00 in the new york city area and then up closer to midnight for northern portions of long island into southern connecticut and massachusetts. that's where we're actually going to see the surge start to be felt because you have your normal high tide and then on top of that we're looking at an additional 4 to 7 feet of water and it's all getting pushed on shore here and we're at the peak of the storm but it's not going to weaken all that quickly. just look at the winds. the winds extend so far out from the center of the storm and even as we go into tuesday and wednesday, we're still looking at winds perhaps gusting up near 40, 40 miles per hour.

>> thank you so much. >> yep. coming up, more on the dangerous situation in midtown manhattan with a crane 80 stories high partially collapsing. and it's an october surprise nobody was prepared for. will hurricane sandy affect the presidential election with just one week to go? our continuing coverage of hurricane sandy is coming up. stay with us.

sandy hits the shore. the latest, up next.

sandy set to make landfall somewhere near atlantic city, new jersey, within the hour. people up and down the east coast are feeling the effects of sandy's powerful gusts and rain. with the harshest impact hitting the shores of new jersey and connecticut. joining me now here in atlanta is retired lieutenant general russel. he coordinated military relief efforts for hurricane katrina. general, thanks for being here. >> good to be with you, al. >> tell me, what are you seeing as this storm slams into the new jersey coast? >> i think this is another history making moment. we're watching history be made and recording it. because of the size of the storm and the enormous amount of population underneath that storm as it come ashore, we are riding the bar for how we will respond

and prepare for storms like this in the future. again, my biggest concern is the elderly, disabled, and poor people who did not evacuate and right now their lights are going out and they may not be prepared as they should be. it's the 29th of the month. their food is running low and didn't have the money to restock. they will need help in the coming hours once this storm passes and the challenge will be how do we get food and evacuation to that needed population? >> so the challenge for those cities, states, and fema is how to deal with getting whatever necessary help is needed for the elderly and the poor who are not as situated for such a crisis as unusual as this storm is turning out to be? >> right. all these disasters we've

watched and they were elderly, disabled, and poor people by themselves. that's the population. much of the talk that has happened so far has dealt with strategy and tactics and risk communications. in the coming hours and days it's going to be about logistics, reverend, al. it's going to be about real people. thereby, the mayors need to encourage their people as soon as the storm passes through is for neighbors to check on neighbors because neighbors will keep more people alive than first responders. with all due respect, the mayors are going to have to keep the streets open so people can take care of one another because there are not enough first responders. the other thing is, get businesses open that have food and water and feed people. get restaurants opened. because people will need that because on the backside of this storm is cold air, cold

temperature, hypothermia setting in because there's no heat and people are damp. hypothermia will set in and people with any type of medical condition are going to go down quick. everybody is going to have to be involved with the community to try to keep their neighbors alive because there are not enough first responders, let's face it. >> part of the danger of this is that people always say it's not going to be as bad as projected and underestimate and, therefore, ill prepare or it may be a an economic situation where they can be prepared. >> with about 30% of our population, this is about the time that the fixed income has run out. >> right. >> a large part of the population will need help quickly and the quickest way to do that is to get the streets opened and stores opened and neighbors helping neighbors. >> general russel honore, thank you very much for your time tonight. joining me now is dr. phil

lip orton, from the stevens institute of technology. dr. or tcton, how big of an imp is this storm going to have over the next few hours as the storm makes landfall? >> the biggest krn is the central part of new injuries see. there is flooding all over the place. new york city is going to have pretty bad flooding and really now since it took more of a turn sitting to the south of new jersey, they are getting hammered. >> we heard from 9 to 11 foot storm surges from hurricane sandy. what exactly does that mean? >> the storm surge is a slow sea level rise over the past 24 hours it's been coming in. the tide comes in every 12 hours. we had one of those on top of a

little bit of storm surge this morning and now we've got about 6 1/2 feet of storm surge in new york harbor, even more along the jersey coast and we're getting another one of those high tides. so that's -- the two together are what determines the total water level that people have at their feet. >> where are we going to see the biggest impact of this storm and what will happen in those areas? >> it looks now -- this is just coming in right now, the storm surge for the new york city area is leveling off. the tides will come up a couple more feet but that's about it. new york city may be two feet over the sea walls, two or three feet higher over the highest sea walls and along the "jersey shore" they ajersey shore they seeing high waves destroy dunes and it's closer to the eye of the storm, getting water up into their neighborhoods. >> from which you can project

now, will this hurricane break records? >> the flooding records, flood elevation records are breaking levels all over the place. certainly at the jersey shore it's unprecedented. new york city has been measuring the tide levels and it should break that record. there is also a hurricane in 1821 where they didn't have measurements and they have estimates and that was a higher flood level during that hurricane. >> dr. philip orton, thank you for your time tonight. we're watching hurricane sandy as it turns towards the south jersey coast. thousands of people are without power. it's a time when we remember what government is for and we also remember what mitt romney said fema should be. and that is privatize. you're watching our special coverage of hurricane sandy here on "politicsnation" on msnbc.

>> right now the wind is really, really ripping. it's been getting stronger and stronger. the rain is going sideways and i can feel the sand hitting my back.

we're back on "politicsnation" with our continuing coverage of hurricane sandy. hundreds of thousands of people have already lost power. many in new york and new jersey. and joining me now by phone is new jersey congressman robin andrews who is near the impact point in new injuries see. congressman, thanks for speaking with us. >> thank you, reverend, for your concern about our people here. >> what's the latest that you can tell us? >> well, the latest is that sandy is right at us. it's hitting atlantic city soon. my district is 30 miles from that so i can see the sight of t we have police officers, nurses, social workers been out for the last 48 hours. they are doing a fabulous job. we have shelters set up. we have people who have been evacuated and i think we're going to be okay because of the hardworking public employees. >> now your particular

constituents are going to take a direct heat and you said that there's already been prep rags and evacuations. how many people have been evacuated? or do you know? >> well, we're further in so we're probably in the hundreds, maybe low thousands on the evacuation. we have a lot of flooded areas and there's been an effort to get people out of there. trailer parks near creeks and rivers we have people in shelters now. i will tell you something, all of these people who criticize public employees ought to walk in their shoes today because they are doing a great job. >> as we are seeing the response of public employees, as you state, and government officials on something that we've not had to deal with this before, are you confident that the response has been adequate to what is an unusual threat to your constituents? >> yes, i am. now, of course, this is a huge storm. we will not know its full impact

until seven days after it is over but every effort has been made by the social services, by law enforcement, public safety, by education, health care. this is what it looks like when people come together and do the right thing. >> and that seems to be a real coop r cooperation. also, among your constituents, what do you say to people who are listening to you in other areas that are going to be impacted by this storm that you would urge them to do that you see your own constituents doing at your own urging? >> the first is act early. don't wait for the storm to land on you. act early. and the second is, help your neighbors. the general just said, first responders can only do so much. neighbors have to help neighbors and that's the effort we're engaged in. we're very proud of our public citizens who work so hard here. >> all right. thank you so much, congressman

andrews. thank you for your time and be safe. >> thank you, reverend. you as well. coming up, we'll go live to the jersey shore. and why events like this remind us how important the federal government is. our continuing coverage of the hurricane sandy is coming up. stay with us.

"politicsnation." as we speak, hurricane sandy is bearing down on more than 50 million americans along the east coast. it's events like this that reminds us how important the federal government is, how vital our nation's first responders are. this storm is highlighting a

fundamental difference in our role of government. on the one side is president obama and governor romney. someone who actually made the case for shutting down fema. in passing the responsibility on to the states and some people say maybe we're learning a lesson. how do you deal with something like that? >> absolutely every time you have an occasion that takes something from the federal government and sends it back to the states, that's the right direction. and if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that's even better. >> governor romney says it would be better to privatize fema. that's jarring and so was his reason. >> we're borrowing $1.6 trillion more than we're taking in. we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids.

it is simply immoral. for us to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids knowing full well that we'll be dead and gone before it occurs makes no sense at all. >> with eight days to go in this election, that is the choice in this election. do we want a president that believes government can be there when we need it most or someone who thinks it's immoral to spend the money in helping our fellow americans? joining me now is richard wolffe, vice president and executive editor of msnbc.com and an msnbc political analyst and seen three yeah tucker from the university of georgia. thank you both for being here. >> thanks, reverend. >> thank you. >> richard, let me start with you. how important are romney's fema comments in light of the

hurricane? >> well, timing is everything in an election, reverend. and when you come to this kind of major natural disaster where the president is taking real life action dealing with an ongoing situation on the ground, looking and sounding presidential and then you have his opponent who has the tapes still out there, which isn't that old, where he appears to be saying, not just that states should take a lead. remember, states do take the lead in these situations and local responders. but he's saying even beyond that that the private sector should be one that there's a morality question here. it's about debt. it's not about first response. you know, that kind of ideological pandering will come back to haunt him won we get through the initial stages of this disaster. there are real policy questions that he broached in that republican primary trying to pand pander conservative voters that

doesn't sit well in the election. >> cynthia, governor romney's campaign issued a statement walking back those fema comment. i'm quoting, governor romney believes that the states should be involved in other natural disasters in their jurs decks. as the first responders, states are in the best position to aid affected individuals and communities and direct resources and assistance to where they are needed. this includes help from the federal government and fema. suddenly mr. romney loves fema. doesn't sound like he wants to privatize it today. >> well, of course he's trying to walk that back because this is not the kind of remark that goes over well with voters in the middle that he's trying to lure now. this sounded good for the severely conservative mitt romney to say. but the new moderate mitt doesn't want to be caught -- we have perhaps an unprecedented natural disaster hitting the

east coast of the united states. >> right. >> the new moderate mitt doesn't want to be seen saying, oh, the federal government -- why not privatize it? let people pay to be rescued. you know, what is the immoral here, reverend al? the united states is the richest country in the history of the world. bar none. what would be immoral would be for the federal government not to do whatever was necessary, you know, move the 82nd airborne if you have to, to rescue people. make sure they have food and water and make sure as many people as need to be moved to safety are moved to safety. >> richard, ryan's running mate scrapped the budget, tried to eliminate $10 million in funding and wants disaster aid offset by other cuts. how relevant is that now given

the storm? >> that was the context for the response that romney gave himself where congressional republicans were just adding money to fema, no matter what the historical precedent was for both parties in terms of dealing with funding issues around fema. you know, it wasn't that long ago if anyone needs reminding that there was this thing called hurricane katrina and it took a federal response because the states couldn't handle things. by the way, the romney campaign statement that you could read either way is not tacking back to the center. it's one of those nonaffirmative affirmations of who knows what position. it could be that the federal government backs away entirely and it's describing what is going to go on with the obama administration. you would have to be a mind

reader to know what that statement means. >> cynthia, most of the program is dealing with the storm obviously our concern. but president obama was asked about the storm's impact on the presidential election today. listen to what his response was. >> the impact of the election, sir? >> i am not worried at this point about the impact on the election. i am worried about the impact on families and i'm worried about the impact on our first responders. i'm worried about the impact on our economy and on transportation. you know, the ee lx will take care itself. >> how big of an impact is the hurricane to have in voters' minds, cynthia? >> first of all, the presidential's statement was pitch perfect. i am here in my capacity as

president of the united states to support everyone. those who will vote for me and those who will not. but i think it's also true that mitt romney must be feeling a little bit frustrated by the fact that viewers are, first of all, going to see reports mostly about the hurricane and its development. when they hear from officials, it will be governors and mayors in his capacity as the commander in chief. and so it throws both campaigns off a bit but it throws mitt romney off more because he has less opportunity now to get his message out because people are preoccupied with this huge weather event. >> richard, the most campaigns are frozen. >> yep. >> who loses the most? cynthia says it's romney. what do you say? >> look, i don't think either of them planned for this.

certainly in terms of the romney campaign, early voting takes some impact but in virginia it's not the same rules. in florida there's not that much impact at all. so i don't know that it's that much of an interruption but in terms of the optics of it, you know, when you're a challenger, you don't have anything to do except campaign nour flying around and when you do so you look more commanding and presidential. so i think it's a benefit for a president as long as the response actually works. if it doesn't work, you've got a whole other situation going on in your hands. if we carry on this track, the president is in a slightly better position but we'll be back to this in a very short amount of time. >> yes.

and as one who lives in new york and on the eastern seaboard, i'm very concerned. but, again, people will say, don't deal with the politics. the politics is going to determine how we respond to this disaster and disasters in the future. richard wolffe and cynthia tucker, thank you for coming on tonight. we have new video that shows a crane as it partially collapses, dangling 80 stories above the city's streets. more on that ahead. we are also tracking the path of hurricane sandy as it heads towards the south jersey coast. it's expected make landfall any minute now. you're watching our special storm coverage here on "politicsnation" on msnbc.

we've been asking you to show your photos with us on your early voting days. this is a picture of a whole family turning in their ballots together in flint, michigan. and running into big bird when they voted in north carolina this weekend. it looks like the longest lines were in georgia. karen sent us this picture of the six-hour long wait and jason

sent us this picture of his family who also waited in a six-hour long line to vote. that's dedication. i have more on the fight for voting rights and i'll be voting event this weekend but we want to see you cast your ballot, too. go to facebook page, which is facebook.com/politicsnation and share your early voting photos with us. they might end up on the show.

we're back with our continuing coverage of hurricane sandy and its possible effects on the presidential election. specifically, impact voting turnout. today, north carolina, maryland, and washington, d.c., canceled early voting for today. also today, the supreme court took no action on cases asking it to end the voting rights act.

another big defeat for right wingers trying to suppress the vote. there's more news on early voting. i was in florida over the weekend where early voting opened saturday. i can report that the right wing woke up a sleeping giant with their attempts to suppress voting. i was there with the bishop victor t. curry. we were there for operation lemonade where we con voted those voting suppression lemons into lemonades. >> this is not just about one person or one candidate. th this is about the rights of people. we must protect everybody or we can't protect anybody. >> it's about the rights of all people and the people of florida were ready to go. >> i'm here and i'm a strong

believe in voting. >> i want my vote to count so early, early, early it is. >> so far, 105,000 people have voted early in miami-dade and broward counties. friday, republicans led democrats in florida with absentee ballots by 63,000 votes. now democrats lead by 10,000 votes. early voting lines stretched around the block. wait times were up as much as five hours in some polling and no one could have predicted that as bearing down on the east coast right now. it's a time for everyone to work together and we must keep an eye on the polls. this election is too important as bishop curry says, turn them lemons into lemonade. coming up, we go live to atlantic city where they are bracing for a different hit and

a direct hit from sandy. stay with us.

we're back with breaking news on that partial crane collapse in new york city. this video shows the crane as it collapses dangling 80 stories above the city streets. those streets have been cleared and nearby buildings have been evacuated. forecasters say winds may be hitting 95 miles per hour on top of that high rise when the crane collapsed. and officials are trying to figure out what, if anything, they can do with the crane as the storm intensifies. meantime, hurricane sandy's expected to make landfall any moment on the southern coast of new jersey. let's go back to nbc's

meteorologist dylan dreyer. what can we expect in the next few hours? >> reverend, things are going to go downhill. the storm has officially made landfall. it barrelled in and took a west turn and headed right towards the southern new jersey coastline. we have winds gusting up to 48 miles per hour in atlantic city and go just north of that, in new york city itself, 71 mile-per-hour wind gusts and islip that gets the strongest winds. it arrives in long island around 8:00, 8:30. that's on top of the normal high tide and this storm system now that it's made landfall will gradually weaken but the winds are not going to ease and the rain is still going to come down. we're going to see several inches of rainfall. 8, 9, 10 inches of rain likely.

we're also getting storm out of this system. it's hard to believe that we're talking about storm, too. we'll see more of a foot of snow but in the next couple of hours we are only going to see things get worse and there is that snow coming down. it's that hybrid snow, the cold front that merged with the hurricane. it is now a strange type of system that is almost a nor'easter and a hurricane at the same time. we have snow in the mountain regions and torrential rain that's going to come down into new york state and we have the high tide around 8:00 tonight. so that flooding concern right along the coast is going to be a huge issue within another hour or so. >> dylan, thank you. we know you'll keep an eye on this storm for the rest of the evening. >> absolutely. >> no doubt about it, this is a dangerous storm. people that are in or around this storm area must be cautious. this is a time to look out for neighbors and family. this is a time to pray